


The Truth?

by VirginiasWolf



Series: Life Moves On [26]
Category: Death in Paradise
Genre: F/M, Racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24139954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirginiasWolf/pseuds/VirginiasWolf
Summary: While back on Saint Marie, Camille is arrested for seemingly attacking a tourist. What is the true story behind this accusation?
Relationships: Camille Bordey/Richard Poole
Series: Life Moves On [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1456375
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	The Truth?

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this general idea for a while now, but I felt it was one that needed to be handled sensitively so I didn't just want to jump into it without thinking on the topic. I am aware that there is another theme (besides the racism element although this is connected to that) which is also terribly uncomfortable, but tagging it kind of gives away the mystery of this fic. I will state that it is more a scary situation than something triggering, but I felt it should still be warned.

If Richard allows himself to be completely honest, he'll admit that he no longer hates Saint Marie. He is of course glad that it is no longer his home, and thankful that Jack Mooney now has the role of Detective Inspector, but he has to admit that he likes being one of only two Croydon detectives who has an excuse to randomly jet off to a tropical island. This visit is also special.

  
Tomorrow, after five years of marriage, him and Camille will renew their wedding vows on the beach in front of the shack where they had first met. He keeps trying to convince himself that he finds this whole thing cheesy, but he has to admit that he is secretly a little sentimental about it. Holding the ceremony in front of the shack wasn't even his or Camille's idea, but it feels right. How could he have predicted that on that day in 2011 when he had walked in on a woman he thought was Charlie Hulme's cleaning lady, he was actually mapping out his future. He also particularly likes that if all goes as planned tomorrow, his wife will finally have a chance to be spoiled and pampered in ways she was denied during the actual wedding.

  
Right now however, Camille is out shopping in the marketplace with Rory. Richard's parents, Michael, Liz and their daughter are here too, but they have all gone off on a day of sightseeing and taken Emily, as well as Rosie Best, with them, which leaves Richard to sit in La Kaz and catch up with Fidel and Juliette.

  
At least he assumes he has time to catch up until his cellphone goes off. A quick glance down at the display reveals that the caller is Inspector Jack Mooney. Puzzled, but not yet concerned, Richard answers the phone. "This is Richard."

  
"I'm afraid we've got Camille in lockup. She punched a tourist."

  
Richard isn't sure exactly how to process those words. He certainly believes that Camille has the ability to punch someone. After all, during their first case she insisted she could beat him in a fist fight, and he's even seen her punch someone in his defense, but he can't imagine her just randomly punching a tourist. "Jack, are you sure you've got the right person. I don't think Camille would do that." 

  
"She was right there at the scene with bloody knuckles. I was hoping you could come down to the station and try to talk to her."

  
Richard takes a second to let the information play through his mind before something else hits him. "Where is our daughter?"

  
"She's with Madeline and Ruby."

  
Although he is relieved to know his child is safe, this only seems to deepen the mystery. For the past four months, him and Camille have been carefully working to undo the trauma their adoptive daughter received from losing her biological mother to murder. At this point the four-year-old still goes into practical panic attacks at the sight of blood from something as minor as a scraped knee. There is no way Camille would put their child's mental health at risk like that.

  
"I'll get Catherine and we'll be at the station in a little bit."

  
As soon as Richard hangs up the phone, he realizes that Fidel and Juliette are watching him with concern.

  
"Is something wrong?" the younger man asks.

  
"Camille has been arrested. She apparently attacked a tourist. I'm going to take Catherine down to the station and see if we can get all of this straightened out. I umm...I need someone to stay here and tell my parents what happened when they return."

  
"I can do that," Juliette immediately volunteers, probably sensing that her husband will also want to go down to the station and check on Camille.

  
Within a matter of minutes, Richard, Catherine and Fidel are arriving at the station. As soon as he walks in, Richard spies a woman he assumes must be Camille's victim. She looks as if the type of person who even in her best of moods would only take delight in causing someone else misery, and Richard decides it isn't a stretch to assume she probably deserved to be punched. Even so, he knows that he needs to hear Camille's side of the story.

  
As he walks behind the woman to get to the lockup, she lets out a loud exaggerated moan. "Oh, Inspector Mooney it really does hurt. I think that woman must have broken something."

  
At this Richard can't resist turning back to look at Catherine and Fidel. Catherine only responds by sighing and making an impatient expression that she must have passed on to her daughter.

  
Camille is pacing back and forth in the same cell that Richard had once put her in, however the moment he enters she turns and walks over to grab the bars. He can immediately tell she has been crying.

  
"I know I reacted rashly, but I was so scared. That woman tried to take our daughter. I had to do something to stop her."

  
This all explains the reasoning behind Camille's actions perfectly. She fights to protect those she loves, especially the ones who can't defend themselves, although he can't initially come up with a reason why the other woman would want to take their daughter. "She's a complete stranger, why would she want to do that?"

  
Camille smiles a smile that is really more of a tired grimace. "I suspect she might have believed I was a few shades too dark to be Rory's mother."

  
Richard wishes he could be naive enough to choose not to believe his wife's claim, but unfortunately he doesn't doubt it for a second. In the five years they have been married, he has heard more than a few ugly things; about them as an interracial couple, or about Camille as an obvious immigrant. Most of those comments have been made in the UK, Saint Marie is usually safe. The tourist is an American though.

  
Richard lets his eyes wander to Camille's injured hand. The knuckles are bruised and even cut open in a few areas. She must have hit the woman directly in the mouth, which leads to him worrying about infection. "You should have this checked out."

  
"Richard, I am not going to the hospital," Camille gives him one of her incredulous looks.

  
"At least let me patch you up," Richard leans in to plant a kiss on Camille's forehead before walking back into the station to ask Jack where the first aid kit is. "Is there umm..is there a first aid kit in here? I'm going to patch up Camille's hand."

  
Before Jack can respond, the woman who is still sitting across from him peddling her sob story bursts out. "That *bleep* woman is dangerous. I can't believe you're insisting on treating her when she almost broke my nose." Except of course she doesn't call Camille a *bleep* woman, she calls her a very rude, very racist word that Richard knows he will have to now explain to his four-year-old. 

  
A word that also earns her a glare of murder from Catherine and briefly leaves Jack in stunned silence, clearly taking in the genetic makeup of the majority of the room, before stating, "I have tried to be polite with you even though the woman in lockup is a very dear friend of mine, but by using slurs you have crossed a line. I think it is time I hear her side of the story."

  
While all of this is going on, Richard quickly locates the first aid kit and finds the cell keys right next to it. For now, they're very useful, but he decides he should probably point out to his friend that they are in far too obvious of a place.

  
When he unlocks the cell door Camille smiles at him. "My knight."

  
"Well, I had to do something to protect you, didn't I?" Richard pauses and motions for them both to sit on the cot in the cell. "Jack is going to come in to hear your side of the story. You'll be out of here in no time."

  
A minute later Jack does arrive carrying a bottle of water. "So you do have my keys."

  
"Sorry," Richard apologizes, before passing the cell keys back to Jack. In return, Jack passes the bottle of water to Camille.

  
Over the next several minutes, she retells the story of what happened in even more vivid detail than she had initially told Richard, only pausing once to yelp when he forgets to warn her before dabbing antiseptic on her injured knuckles.

  
When Camille is finished speaking, Jack only responds with. "Well, I believe it's time to crack this case wide open," which initially worries Richard until he adds, "You might want to stage a jail break."

  
A few minutes later, Richard stands just inside the doorway between the desks and the cells with Camille next to him, her hand laced with his. He can sense exactly how exhausted she is by how she leans against him almost as if he has become her lifeline. Attempting a form of comfort, Richard softly squeezes her hand before shooting a glare at the back of the head of the woman he now knows tried to abduct his daughter and frame his wife as an aggressor.

  
Jack briefly paces the room before speaking. "I'm not going to bore everybody with a long drawn out speech as I'm sure we all want to get out of here, and most of us will be leaving today. I'll start with an apology," Jack pauses before turning to Camille, who is still clinging tightly to Richard. "Camille, you were acting in defense of the most vulnerable person in this room, your young daughter."

  
Richard catches Catherine's expression of absolute anger from across the room. He almost feels bad about the wrath that has just been released. Almost. At the same moment he feels something grasping at his legs. He almost flinches away from this touch until he looks down and is met with a pair of green eyes eerily similar to his own.

  
"Papa?"

  
The entire room goes silent as Richard looks down at his four-year-old daughter, the true victim in all of this. "Yes sweetheart?"

  
"Mama okay?"

  
"I'm fine ma cherie, just very tired," Camille answers the question for him. "Would you like to go on a walk with grand-mère?" Although Richard can't quite see the expression his wife makes, he senses that she is pleading with her mother across the room to just forget about being angry and instead focus on getting Rory out of this situation.

  
Whatever she does apparently works, because within seconds Catherine is making her way across the room to them, managing to change disturbingly quickly from viciously angry to saccharine sweet.

  
The moment Catherine leaves with Rory, something lifts from Richard's shoulders. At least his child is now away from the woman who tried to abduct her. He still won't be able to feel completely at ease until Camille is fully free as well though.

  
However, the tension seems to have only gotten higher for the would be abductor who suddenly jumps up from her seat and states, "you're all biased against me," before attempting to run towards the door. She soon finds her path blocked by Fidel and JP who manage to, far too politely for Richard's tastes, escort her back to her seat.

  
It is at this point that Jack begins speaking again. "Unfortunately, you are the person who won't be leaving here today. Attempted kidnapping is quite a serious charge."

  
-  
Hours later, Richard finds himself restless lying in bed. The girls are both with Catherine, having an impromptu sleepover that also includes Rosie and Avery, and he can't help but feel bad about the chaos that he is sure his mother-in-law is enduring, but those worries are far from his most pressing ones. Camille is asleep next to him, managing to even be tense in sleep. 

  
Softly, he reaches out intending to brush a loose curl away from her face without waking her. When his hand brushes against her face, her eyes flutter open.

  
"I didn't mean to wake you," Richard apologizes immediately feeling guilty. She deserves to have a full night's sleep the night before their vow renewal. 

  
"You're not asleep?" Camille stretches before propping her head up on one hand so she can look at him.

  
"I'm worried about you. Because of today."

  
"Oh Richard," Camille pauses and nestles against him. "I am not so easily broken."

  
"Yes, but you shouldn't have to deal with that." Richard begins stroking Camille's hair as she lays on his chest. "People like that woman are...they're awful and on the day before our vow renewal too..."

  
Richard stops speaking when he realizes that Camille is laughing at him. He's trying to comfort her and she's laughing at him in a sound that he can almost feel vibrating in his chest because of her position.

  
"Are you even listening to me?!" Richard can't help but feel a little offended.

  
Camille manages to compose herself after a minute. "I'm sorry Cherie, I'm not mocking you. I just don't think the racist cares that we are renewing our wedding vows tomorrow."

  
"Oh. Yes, I suppose you're right."

  
Camille suddenly stretches and yawns. "Go to sleep Richard. I'm right here, our daughters are probably hopelessly tormenting Maman right now, and that awful woman is sitting miserably in jail. There is no reason for either of us to worry about anything."


End file.
